CBS News, where turmoil has become almost routine, has bounced Richard M. Cohen as its campaign coverage producer and says he is leaving the network after he rejected other assignments offered him. Network officials declined to comment Tuesday on why Cohen, who had been at CBS News since 1979, got the ax. He will be succeeded by Brian M. Healy, who has been the Washington senior producer for "CBS Evening News" since 1982.

CBS News, where turmoil has become almost routine, has bounced Richard M. Cohen as its campaign coverage producer and says he is leaving the network after he rejected other assignments offered him. Network officials declined to comment Tuesday on why Cohen, who had been at CBS News since 1979, got the ax. He will be succeeded by Brian M. Healy, who has been the Washington senior producer for "CBS Evening News" since 1982.

BELOVED by Toni Morrison (Plume: $8.95). Sethe, a slave woman, kills one of her children rather than have her born into slavery. Her decision and possibly the child haunt her. PEOPLE OF THE DARKNESS by Tony Hillerman (Perennial Library: $3.95). Sgt. Jim Chee, Navajo Tribal Police, believes there is more than meets the eye to the theft of seemingly innocuous belongings of a Southwestern millionaire by a peyote-eating Indian cult. TARNISHED ANGEL by Elaine Barbieri (Jove: $4.50).

On its cover, "The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball," a reference book compiled annually by David S. Neft and Richard M. Cohen, is touted as "The Argument Settler--the Only Baseball Book You'll Ever Need". Who can argue with a book that lists no fewer than 85 "Career Interruption Codes"? The list includes: "CP--Blood poisoning. "FA--Finger amputated. "FR--Badly burned. "GW--Gunshot wounds." Add Encyclopedia: Not all of Neft and Cohen's codes are gruesome or morbid, of course.

Officials in Vice President George Bush's campaign--and some independent political analysts--declared Tuesday that Bush gained valuable ground in his fight for the Republican presidential nomination by standing up to CBS News anchorman Dan Rather and angrily refusing to answer his questions on the Iran-Contra scandal.